updated 07:15 pm EDT, Wed March 14, 2012

Strategy Analytics sees Apple out of sweet spot

The ideal smartphone's screen size for most prospective buyers is on the large side, Strategy Analytics determined from a study. Researchers talking to existing American and British owners found that the "sweet spot" for a phone was between four and 4.5 inches, as long as the phone was reasonably thin. About 90 percent of those asked chose a device larger than what they have, although the study didn't gauge how many would buy a larger phone if pressed.

Certain truisms about smartphone habits appeared to hold under scrutiny. Women were more likely to consider a slightly smaller device than a man. Likewise, current Android phone owners were more likely to want a larger device than iPhone owners.

The desire for bigger screens was pinned on a shift towards the mobile web as well as gaming and video, all of which tend to benefit from bigger screens. Phone calls and traditional text messaging have been on the decline among smartphone owners.

Although not a definitive examination, it suggests that Apple may be losing an opportunity to get more users through its current 3.5-inch display. Apple has had no problems becoming the top smartphone maker through its current design. Collectively, however, Android is currently more popular among smartphones, possibly helped by both larger screens overall and a wider range of options.

The range could spark a possible backlash to the latest crop of Android devices from hardware makers insistent that larger screens are always better. The 4.7-inch HTC One X, five-inch LG Optimus Vu, and 5.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Note all fall clearly outside of the size class. Such sizes are known to create genuine usability problems, such as being unable to reach parts of the screen without shifting position, discomfort during voice calls, and trouble fitting into smaller pockets.

Meaningless

What were the questions? Were people asked if they would prefer to watch a movie on a 4.5" screen or a 3.5"? Were they asked if a game looked better on the bigger screen? Were they shown a web site with small print and asked which one was easier to read?
I bet if they had been asked if the 4.5" device would fit in their hand or a shirt pocket, or whether they preferred the lighter one, or asked if the higher resolution of the smaller screen looked better, they would have received different answers.
I guess it is the same company who published this morning's poll that claimed that tablet buyers all prefer to have a keyboard. Except that they don't get one.
Samsung must be getting desperate.

It's not the size, it's how you

use it that matters. Hehe. I find it difficult to believe that most smartphone users want some display bigger than 4". Maybe the larger size screen is easier to read on non-Retina Display screens. Maybe if Apple upped the display size a bit more while still keeping the same case form factor might help. I think the iPhone is a perfect size, however, consumers have a right to choose. I believe Apple will continue to use the same form factor regardless of how large Android smartphones become. There are so many after-market accessories that use the current iPhone form factor and it would seem a shame to redo those accessories to fit a larger iPhone.

Wrong Question

Preface: There is no perfect "one size fits all"--some people really do want and will prefer in actual use a larger or smaller phone. I might be perfectly happy with 3" for my pants pocket and Twitter use, while my wife might want a 5" monster because its always in her purse and she uses it for TV shows on the train.

That said, what people say they want in a "blind" survey isn't necessarily what they actually do want in practice. There are plenty of consumers--the majority, I'd argue--who honestly think that they want something they really don't once they get it.

The perfect example would be the iPad--it wasn't at all what people were asking for (least of all tech-heads), but it's exactly what a great many of them ended up wanting to use. Or the Wii--nobody was asking for it, but boy did they want it once it existed.

Not to say that Apple shouldn't, necessarily, make, say, a 4.5", 3.5", and 3" iPhone. Nor that some people don't genuinely want what they're asking for. But people saying "I want a bigger phone" is a very different thing from them saying "I owned a 3.5" phone and a 4.5" phone, and I liked the 4.5" better."

Must fit in my pocket

If it doesn't fit in my trousers pocket, it's too big. If it doesn't fit in my hand easily, it's too big. i saw a Samsung phone the other day and spent the next ten minutes trying to work out why anyone would buy such a large phone. And then I realised, they don't; they buy an iPhone instead!

Hmm

Just saying a studying existed provides no support. What questions were asked? Who was asked? In what context were the questions asked? "Most users" you say. Just not the hundreds of millions of iPhone users.

Lifted Samsung

As a professional I wanted a smart phone. I wanted reliability and flexibility. I decided on an Samsung Galaxy android, all good right? Then I couldn't put it in my pocket without it sticking out or looking odd in a front pocket. A few weeks later I walked down the street for a lunch meeting and got bumped before I entered a restaurant. I sat down feeling something was wrong. My fancy big new phone was a "take me" flag for a pick pocket. That night I went straight to the Apple store and signed up for an iPhone 4s. It's comfortable in any pocket and doesn't stick out at all. I haven't regretted it for a second, infact I love siri.

I hate

large phones, I have always chosen size over everything else (feature sets compared).

I like a phone to be a small thing in my pocket and is one of the reasons I've never bought an iPhone. I know this is against the grain but my specific needs are not met by a large uncomfortable thing in my pocket or manbag (which I don't own by the way).

I also know that for many others, their needs for the device outweigh the physical dimensions.

Everything is a tradeoff.

But 4" and over is semi-tablet, it's outside the realistic of the world of a portable phone, it's more like the 'brick' that was the first mobile.

It's still a phone

Since it's still a phone, I think the current iPhone physical dimensions seem right to me. Sure I'd like a larger screen, in theory, but I don't want a phone larger than this. Would be nice to see Apple stretch the screen dimensions closer to the edge of the phone, but I don't think the majority of people want a phone that won't fit easily in a pocket. I think what this study found was the obvious, dichotomy of the tech consumer.. Sure we want huge screens, but we don't actually want larger phones. It's just like those who love the MacBook Air, but just wish it had a larger screen, more ports and a CD drive. You can't have it all, I'm afraid.